THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1906

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume IV, Issue 1543, 29 January 1906, Page 2

THE Waihi Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1906

HeroHtiall tlia Irons the l'«o|ilc>\i Itl({lit maintain Unanod by inlluonoo and nnbriboil by ytiu ; '■liwiiatflot Truth lio {i iri.LH pr-iuiim .li.v PI(d?od to Reliirion Mbortj. mil Law

THE adjourned meeting ( ,f i|, (l | Waihi Borough Council in enii» nee ion with the. maluioiy holiday tains place this evi-ninfj, unil from all that is heard in (lies n-i-t i|„. meeiint.' will Uroiir Sittii<• l:tv as *Jih day of closing. The uw -1 'i sln-n discrjßsed all oyer tln* inwii for ! ■fnli.H wfll'kH, the great lllijiiri. ; of iinsiness men advocating a'rnnejy j' .hat Wednesday should l)Ba|)|ioi!)'i''U and tho assistants being quitn an I 1 insistent regarding Saturday, With '

unbiased people . the arguments used by shopkeepers in favour of Wednesday will find a good deal of sympathy. They can see that if Saturday is decided on a serious loss to business will occur, for the inhabitants of the town are chiefly young people, who will not care to stay on Saturday nights in a town Bhrouded in darkness, and, will be drawn away by adjacent towns whose closing day is not Saturday. On the other side the argument used is that the people of a town should have full freedom to go where they like on Saturdays and spend their money when; ihey wish. This is an absolutely fair argument, but unfortunately those who use it are inconsistent. They are telling the inhabitants to go where they like on a Saturday, and spend what they like outside their own town, but when it is a question of labour they restrict the applicants for .work to local people. To be consistent they should keep business as well as work in the town they live in, for both go hand in hand, Most of the advocates of Saturday are not in business, and therefore have no idea of the loss which threatens. We Can hardly lliink that all the assist ants who petitioned for Saturday did so with a full comprehension of what would essentially follow if Saturday were appointed. Perhaps it, never occurred to them that with Saiuiday as the half-holiday there would be no day busier than anothei timing the ween, There is reason to believe that a percentage of the Bhop hands are kapt on solely on account of the Saturday trade, as Saturday is the day ou which large numbers of workers are paid. With no Saturday business, and with the shopping spread equally o?er the week, it stands to reason that this uer, centage of shop hands would find that there was no inducement for employers to keep them on, and it is this contingency, which perhaps has been overlooked, that should be weighed tonight with the other phases of ihb vexed question, Again, as Saturday is the pay-day for :i number of the population, including a portion of the miners, the convenience of those who are paid on that day should be kept in view, The trouble, as already pointed out, lies in the self-evident fact that neighbouring towns closing on some other day will reap a goodly amount of the business of a town that closes on Saturday, resulting in a loss to the latter; and this will always be the case as long as alternative days are permitted by the law. We think that as the health of the shop hands is the primary object of the Act, and as from a health point of view Wednesday is as good as Saturday for the after, noon off, it would be a serious mistake for any one' town to throw a part of its business away to neighbouring localities Strenuous efforts should be made in all parts to have one day set apart for the whole colony. With one special day iln-iv could be no objection to Saturiiaj being appointed. In fac, a universal day would hardly be necessary The question could be settled by forming so many districts, each to appoint its own day. We hope that the Council will consider the quts* lion from all points of view, and that while studying the health of the Bhop-hands they will not be unmindful of the convenience of the public and the claims of business,